Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »
Sat 03 Mar 2009Sound Effects
INTERVIEW:Valzhyna Mort grew up with Russian as her first language. Then the Belarusian poet discovered the musicality of her native tongue, and she began ‘playing language like an instrument’. But it was a trip to Ireland that truly launched her career, writes MARK DOTEN.
SHE NEVER WANTED to be a poet. As a child, Valzhyna Mort appeared in the chorus of Carmenat the Minsk Opera House and studied the accordion. Later she gave musical composition a try. But over tea in a Brooklyn coffee shop, the 27-year-old Mort admits that as far as any career in music went, she was “a complete failure, a flop”.
Choose a Subscription type - required
